Robert Seeberger wrote: > >> Like the Moon or Ganimede? The orbit question is important! > > Not really. Both are planets in my estimation. That Ganymede > is a sattelite and the Moon is part of a double planet system > is really irrelevant to how you classify a body. > Our moon wouldn't even be a minor planet. > But then you are misusing the term "planet" - historically, the Jovian moons were _not_ considered planets [it would be natural, then, to create a word that would include the 5 traditional planets, Earth, the Moon and the 4 jovian planetoids].
What you want is a word for planet-sized body. >> No, it won't - it would be _wrong_ to call it a planet! It should >> be called by something else, to stress the fact that it does >> not orbit a star. > > That is exactly what I think is ridiculous. That orbits are more > important to the definition of "planet" than the properties of the > body itself are. > Yes, they are. >> "Rogue planet" is IIRC the science-fictional >> term for those bodies [and "Rogue Star" is a star not bound >> to a Galaxy]. > > I see such a statement of the inconsistancy I am arguing against. > A star is a star no matter where you find it, but a planet is a > planet only if it has a regular orbit around a star? That idea is > what stikes me as silly. > Ah, ok. Then we must have another word for planet-sized body, and another word for star-sized planet :-P >> Of course, maybe we should also re-work the definition of _moon_, >> because there are moons that are bigger than planets, and moons >> that are just pieces of rock. Some moons are "proper" moons, >> and others are "asteroidal" moons. > > True. I would just use terms like planetary moon and asteroidal > moon for various satellites. > So we should have: - a class of words that describe the body - a class of words that describe the relative position of the body The first class would have: Galaxy, Star, Planetoid, Asteroid. The second class would have: Galaxy, Galactic Star, Rogue Star, Planetary Star, Planet, Planetary Satellite, Planetary Asteroid, Asteroidal Satellite. Alberto Monteiro _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
